Volunteer board made athletes’ village a reality

Whistler Development Corporation prepares to hand new neighbourhood to Olympic organizers

If Eric Martin and Jim Moodie tallied up all their time spent working on the athletes' village it would be about 2,500 hours each - more than Whistler could afford.

If they figured out the money spent on gas traveling between Whistler and Vancouver, the long-distance phone calls and other expenses it would be in the thousands of dollars, none of which has ever been expensed.

If they could somehow calculate the worry and the stress of building a $161 million public development under tight timelines, stretched budgets, labour shortages and escalating construction costs, the price would be prohibitive.

And yet, they've never once done the math.

When asked how much it has cost them to volunteer their time, money and expertise over the past seven years to build Whistler's athletes' village, which will become a permanent resident neighbourhood, the answer is simple:

"I've never thought about it and I'm never going to put any thought to it," said Martin, chair of the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation (WDC). "It doesn't matter."

It is, he said simply, a way of giving back to the community. And though neither are locals in the sense that they live in Whistler full-time, they have deep ties to the resort and the people who live here.

On their way up to Whistler for Monday's board meeting, the last before the WDC turns the development over to Olympic organizers at the end of the month, Martin and Moodie stopped off at the athletes' village, now called Cheakamus Crossing.

Bathed in the morning light, the neighbourhood was looking its best. Homes are complete, parks are laid out, the First Nations art is installed. This is the culmination of seven years volunteering on the board responsible for the development.

They can't help but feel immense pride in the accomplishment, given that there was a time when it looked as though the village would just be a temporary blip on the Whistler landscape - here for a moment and gone after the 2010 Games.

The major task is complete. The proverbial keys to the village are almost in VANOC's hands, set to officially be handed over on Oct. 31. It has been finished on budget, on time, and beyond the wildest visioning of the board.

Perhaps the biggest sign that the development has been a major success is the near sell-out of the 221 ownership units, which will be converted and handed over to resident employees after the 2010 Games.

Just two remain unsold.

In addition, three of the seven market lots have sold and one of the 20 market townhouses has sold.